September 8, 2025 -- Issue #358
Hi, Charlie Uniman here, host of Legal Tech StartUp Focus ("LTSF"), the online community for everyone involved with legal tech startups. You're reading the latest digest of articles, opinion pieces, and other thoughts posted during the past week at the community.
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Sponsorships:
The Legal Tech StartUp Focus (LTSF) community's platform (this newsletter, the podcast, and the community's website and LinkedIn following) is now accepting sponsors for the fall. If you are interested in reaching LTSF's audience of startup leaders and other legal innovators, send me an email at charlie@legaltechstartupfocus.com.
Conferences and Other Events
◾ LawtechUK announces a forthcoming "Investment Event:"
On Tuesday 14 October we'll be bringing together speakers, investors and founders to highlight the opportunities to invest in UK legal tech.
For more details about the event and for access to a registratin link, go here:
https://lawtechuk.io/events/lawtechuk-investment-event-in-london-14-october-2025/?utm_campaign=Newsletter&utm_medium=email&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-8MFp5QcCizNtltN5qJ7PS-5DnIIne6W9oLv6yuohHCK-3pONV40n6PEewojJAYfzXf9oSOEIDSsVzSpRRbJB0zDgyKomDddiTx_oC9SzjdcxiaXQ8&_hsmi=116449675&utm_content=116449675&utm_source=hs_email
Exit/M&A
◾ Legal Tech News reports:
"Legal technology and services company Epiq announced Thursday that it acquired Inflection IT, a consultancy focused on Intapp implementations. The transaction, the terms of which were not disclosed, will see Inflection join Fireman, an Epiq company focused on law firm advisory services.
"Epiq senior vice president and general manager of enterprise legal and consulting solutions Ziad Mantoura told Legaltech News that the acquisition was designed to expand upon the company’s existing ability to provide Intapp implementations."
https://www.law.com/legaltechnews/2025/09/04/epiq-announces-purchase-of-intapp-implementation-consultancy-inflection-it/?kw=Epiq+Announces+Purchase+of+Intapp+Implementation+Consultancy+Inflection+IT&utm_source=email&utm_medium=enl&utm_campaign=newsroomupdate&utm_content=20250904&utm_term=ltn&oly_enc_id=6788E2252056B4A&slreturn=20250904103349
Fundraising
◾ From Legal Tech News:
“Artificial intelligence-powered legal risk management company SCOREalytics announced Friday that it completed a seed funding round of over $3 million. The round, led by Moneta Ventures with participation from Ollin Ventures, is intended to boost the company’s product development and customer acquisition.”
“The new funding comes roughly 10 months after the company was spun off from Baker McKenzie, where it originated as an internal unit that assisted the firm’s consulting business in managing legal risks associated with supply chain disruptions.”
The entire article here: https://www.law.com/legaltechnews/2025/09/05/baker-mckenzie-spinoff-scorealytics-announces-3m-seed-funding-round/
Hiring/New Hires
◾ From Artificial Lawyer:
"LegalOn, an AI pioneer for inhouse contracting needs, has hired experienced legal tech executive Vanessa Davis as its Chief Product Officer. She has worked at multiple companies in this sector, including at Litera as a VP (2020 to 2023); LegalZoom (2007 to 2019); OneLegal – and has been on the advisory board to Spellbook since 2020 also. In short, she’s someone who really knows a lot about legal tech and the legal market." https://www.artificiallawyer.com/2025/08/28/legalon-hires-former-litera-exec-vanessa-davis/
◾ From Legal IT Insider:
"Donna Broadley, the former CEO of LEAP APAC, has joined global software development company Xperate as general manager for the APAC region. Broadley, who is based in Sydney, starts in the new role today (1 September), tasked with growing Xperate’s presence in the region.
"Xperate helps legal organisations to build their own products and tools or improve and better integrate their existing tech stack. It announced its strategic expansion into Australia in November last year and this year expanded its team with the hire of Melanie Symes-Turner and Danielle Kazkiw." https://legaltechnology.com/2025/08/31/exclusive-donna-broadley-joins-xperate-as-general-manager-of-apac/
LegalEd
◾ Joel Bijlmer of The Legal Wire posts about a topic that I'm reading about quite a bit nowadays; namely, how GenAI's statistics-driven language-pattern capture (and parroting) may very well need to be supplemented by a more structured architecture in order to become more "suitbable" for use in legal - in the case of the article to which Joel links, it's an graph-like ontology. I could rant on a lot longer on my belief that GenAI needs to be "combined" with good 'ol symbolic AI in a hybridized neurosymbolic architecturs, but I'll let Joel's article, authored by Yuri Kozlov of JudgeAI:
"AI won’t replace judges, but justice won’t move forward without formalization.
"In his latest article, Yuri Kozlov argues that the real bottleneck in LegalTech isn’t computing power or smarter models, it’s law itself. Concepts like fairness and proportionality resist automation, unless we build a computable legal ontology that makes reasoning transparent, testable, and accountable.
"The question is no longer if law becomes computable, but how.
"Read Yuri’s full piece here: https://thelegalwire.ai/why-legaltech-cannot-move-forward-without-formalizing-justice/ "
◾ Legal Tech News reports:
"The Advancement of Legal and Ethical AI (ALEA) Institute was founded to bring uniformity to how the legal industry communicates about matter types and service. Its efforts to do so were initially threatened by a dispute over the rights to the Legal Matter Specification Standard (LMSS), a shared legal taxonomy developed by the Standards for the Legal Industry (SALI) Alliance, to which the ALEA founders were formerly contributors.
"ALEA is now focusing on developing its project, renamed the Federated Open Legal Information Ontology (FOLIO) in March 2025. ALEA Research Director Damien Riehl, who is also vice president and solutions champion at legal research provider vLex, told Legaltech News that FOLIO already includes two features, with a number of further developments in the wings.
$$Quote:
"Riehl said that SALI will remain essential in the near future given how many law firms, vendors and others have aligned around its existing taxonomy. However, he asserted that in the long run the community participation and continued growth of FOLIO will make it a better standard.
“'As FOLIO adds many, many things … and as FOLIO is able to do community collaboration in the ways that I've described, the marketplace will decide what's more helpful to them,. he said."
Read the entire article to see what ALEA's coming feature set will offer: https://www.law.com/2025/08/28/legal-matter-standard-project-folio-plans-new-features-llm-powered-tools/?utm_source=email&utm_medium=enl&utm_content=20250903&utm_campaign=morningminute&utm_term=law&oly_enc_id=6788E2252056B4A
Member Introductions/Questions
◾ Brand new community member, Shira Leff Kreitman, introduces herself to the community: "Hi all,
"Excited to join this space!
"My background is in tech and law. Originally from New York, I moved to Israel ten years ago and for much of that time worked in the tech scene in data. In addition, I studied law from 2021-2024, just finished my articled clerkship year, and am now studying for the Bar that I am taking in December.
"I have a BSc in Business Intelligence and Marketing Analytics, and have worked in the field of data and product analytics for a decade. From year 6-9 of that decade I attended law school while continuing to work in analytics; and for the 2 years before starting my articled clerkship, I worked at Israel's biggest law firm where I single-handedly developed legal analytics solutions for them, introducing the entire firm to the concept.
"I just finished my articled clerkship year at that firm (Meitar) where I specialized in corporate and commercial law for high valuation private cyber companies, and commercial international litigation.
"My unique background (tech/tech in law/law) is calling me and I'm looking to combine my educational and professional experiences by getting further into the legaltech space and developing a legaltech product. I'm interested in disrupting the billable hour space using my experience with behavioral, product, and data analytics.
"I'm currently in the research stage but would also love to connect with others looking to work on disrupting (more accurately: doing away with) the billable hour model and or legaltech solutions relating to data analytics.
"Looking forward to this ride!"
◾ Another LTSF'er joins our community, Raymond Nduga, and here's Raymond introducing himself: "My name is Raymond Nduga, Founder & CEO of Rayness Analytica—a professional services marketplace that bridges the Global South and Global North, enabling businesses worldwide to access affordable, verified freelance talent in law, finance, IT, design, and beyond.
"Rayness Analytica began as a legal technology company, but has since evolved into a professional services marketplace that connects global businesses with world-class freelance talent.
"We have recently been recognised with the Digitally Fit CEO of the Year Award, 2025, law and tech, a milestone that underscores both our leadership in legaltech and our impact on Africa’s digital economy.
"With Africa’s gig economy set to grow exponentially and over 600M internet users by 2030, Rayness Analytica is uniquely positioned to democratise professional services through a trusted, tech-driven platform.
"To learn more, please read here:
"https://raynessanalytica.com/digitally-fit-awards-tech-law-and-business
"Nice to connect with you. Ray."
Partnerships/Business Development
◾ Who can end a work week without a legal tech rundown from Legal Tech News? Here we have business partnerships, new product launches, hiring news, product integrations and geographical expansion. Enjoy!
https://www.law.com/legaltechnews/2025/09/05/legaltech-rundown-lexisnexis-adds-protg-to-patentsight-filevine-launches-new-deposition-tool-and-more/
Product Development
◾ From the August 11, 2025, EmotionTrac press release:
"EmotionTrac, a leader in legal-tech innovation, today announced the launch of its latest product innovation: Bernie, a next-generation AI assistant designed to deliver rich case insights, actionable trial strategies, and immersive client case experiences, all powered by real-time data and mock jury responses.
"This powerful new release redefines the way attorneys and legal teams prepare for mediation and trial, empowering users to “see their case through the jury’s eyes” and make informed decisions with unprecedented confidence. Bernie offers the intelligence of a trial consultant, without the traditional costs."
The entire press release can be found at this link: https://legal.emotiontrac.com/resources/berniepr
◾ Artificial Lawyer reporting:
“Lake Merritt is a new, open source, custom AI evaluation system that helps legal, risk, and product leaders ‘define what good looks like’, or in other words: gauge whether an AI tool works as intended. It’s been developed by Dazza Greenwood, the well-known legal tech expert.
“The initial version of Lake Merritt is an Alpha release and is aimed at law firms, inhouse counsel, and regulated industries ‘where risk, compliance, and trust cannot be left to generic benchmarks, [because] evaluation is not just a technical task – it is a strategic function’.”
https://www.artificiallawyer.com/2025/09/02/new-legal-ai-eval-system-lake-merritt-launches/
Purchasing/Using Legal Tech
◾ The Legal Wire's Joel Bijlmer offers two posts: (1) "Lawyers don’t want disruption. They want trust.
"In our exclusive interview with CEO Tanguy Chau, we explore how Paxton is redefining legal AI with a platform built for accuracy, transparency, and scale. Helping lawyers research, draft, and review faster, without ever replacing judgment.
"The result? More cases won, more clients served, and more time for the work that matters most.
"Full story here: https://thelegalwire.ai/paxton-the-legal-ai-tool-thats-enhancing-attorney-efficiency-without-replacing-judgment/ ", and
(2) "What’s the law in Africa right now?
}For most lawyers, the answer is a patchwork of PDFs, partial translations, and contradictory firm memos.
"In our exclusive interview with CEO Steven de Backer, we explore how Afriwise is turning that chaos into clarity, with real-time updates, local law firm partnerships, and practical guidance across 40+ jurisdictions.
"The future of legal intelligence in Africa isn’t just access. It’s foresight.
Full story here: https://thelegalwire.ai/afriwise-and-the-future-of-legal-intelligence-in-africa "
◾ Legal Tech News reporting:
"A recent survey from admissions consulting firm Juris Education revealed that one in five pre-law students fear artificial intelligence could replace their jobs in the future.
"Meanwhile, 34% of junior associate lawyers asked about the biggest threat to their legal career this year cited technology replacing humans, according to The American Lawyer's 2025 Midlevel Associates Technology Survey."
"David Nicol, head of legal recruiting group Marsden’s U.S. practice, recently told The American Lawyer, 'It’s pretty clear that the size and structure of law firms is going to change, and I don’t really see a future going forward where you’re going to require as many junior associates.'”
https://www.law.com/legaltechnews/2025/09/04/is-the-rise-of-ai-a-real-threat-to-associate-jobs/?kw=Is+the+Rise+of+AI+a+Real+Threat+to+Associate+Jobs?&utm_position=1&utm_source=email&utm_medium=enl&utm_campaign=morningupdate&utm_content=20250905&utm_term=ltn&oly_enc_id=6788E2252056B4A&slreturn=20250905081640
◾ Reporting from Artificial Lawyer:
"Legal marketing and technology agency, 14OhFour, has launched Lumina, an AI-powered tool designed to help law firm event, marketing, and business development teams create ‘compelling event content in seconds.’"
". . . Nathan Wilkins, founder of 14OhFour, explained that ‘law firms invest a significant amount of time and resources in planning seminars, webinars, and client events. Drafting event titles, blurbs, social posts, and follow-up content is often repetitive, slow, and a barrier to execution. Lumina automates this process.’"
https://www.artificiallawyer.com/2025/09/04/14ohfour-launches-lumina-ai-powered-legal-event-content-assistant/
◾ Integrating legal tech applications that are not natively integrated can give rise to a lot of cost and headache, as Legal Tech News reports in the linked article:
"As law firm tech stacks grow, vendor integrations are taking on increasing importance. The failure to manage integrations proactively could pose major threats to a firm’s bottom line and its productivity."
“'We all have costs for integration, costs that we share, … and that's about us making sure that our products and applications simply work well together,' [Aderant CEO, Chris] Cartrett said. 'When that moves to the law firm level, and it starts becoming about the tokens or the transactions … you're starting to get into a situation that can truly create exponential costs for an individual firm.'”
https://www.law.com/legaltechnews/2025/09/04/unexpected-expenses-legal-tech-integrations-can-catch-firms-unprepared/?kw=Unexpected+Expenses?+Legal+Tech+Integrations+Can+Catch+Firms+Unprepared&utm_position=1&utm_source=email&utm_medium=enl&utm_campaign=morningupdate&utm_content=20250908&utm_term=ltn&oly_enc_id=6788E2252056B4A&slreturn=20250908082626
Regulatory Reform
◾ From Legal Tech News:
“During the Wednesday keynote of the Eudia Augmented Intelligence Summit, Eudia co-founder and CEO Omar Haroun announced the launch of Eudia Counsel, an AI-powered law firm created under Arizona's Alternative Business Structure (ABS) program.
“Eudia Counsel offers a platform with generative AI-powered M&A diligence and contracting tools, as well as access to attorneys for in-house teams’ outside counsel needs.”
$$Quote: “ ‘There's certain parts of [in-house team] work that need to be fulfilled by a law firm, there's many parts of their work that need to be fulfilled by a human,’ [Eudia CEO Omar] Haroun told Legaltech News. ‘What we've really done is bring these three groups together: an AI-augmented service provider, an AI-augmented law firm and then a platform for the in-house team as the primary driver.’ ”
https://www.law.com/legaltechnews/2025/09/03/eudia-augmented-intelligence-summit-eudia-launches-arizona-law-firm-ai-use-case-expansion/
Startup Management
◾ From Bloomberg Law:
“KPMG is using Arizona as an entry to take its legal business national, a move certain to grab the attention of Big Law rivals.”
$$Quote: “‘What this market really needed was tech-enabled legal service providers to take some of that high-volume, routine work off our clients’ shoulders,’ [KPMG’s principal at its Arizona firm, Tom] Greenaway said. ‘That will allow us to deliver those services back to them with a quality and scale and speed that we believe nobody else in the market can provide right now’ .”https://news.bloomberglaw.com/business-and-practice/kpmg-law-eyes-national-reach-from-arizona-in-threat-to-rivals
◾ Legal IT Insider on LexisNexis’ just-released “AI culture clash”’report:
“Sixty-one percent of lawyers say they are now using generative AI in their work, according to a new report out today (2 September) from LexisNexis, but two-thirds say slow organisational cultures risk undermining progress. Despite headline adoption clearly escalating, it is important to note that 11% of lawyers said they are using GenAI heavily for day-to-day work and that number drops to 7% at large and medium-sized firms.”
$$Quote from the linked Legal IT Insider article:
“Among those already using AI, interestingly around half say they use general AI tools (49%) and just over half (51%) say they use legal AI tools. Lexis says that lawyers at private practice law firms are more inclined to use legal AI tools (58%), particularly those from medium-sized firms (70%).”
https://legaltechnology.com/2025/09/02/lexisnexis-report-over-60-of-uk-lawyers-now-use-genai-but-law-firm-culture-slows-progress/
Teaching/Learning Legal Tech
◾ From Legal Tech News:
"Law schools are ramping up their efforts to educate students about generative AI in a wide variety of ways, from helping them use it in the classroom to showing them how law firms are using the technology."
$$Quote: "For a law student in 2025, ignoring AI 'is like a student in the 1990s refusing to use a computer,” said University of Houston Law Center Foundation Professor Seth J. Chandler, who recently launched a blog, "AI for Legal Education.'”
https://www.law.com/legaltechnews/2025/09/02/how-law-schools-are-preparing-students-to-use-genai-/?kw=How+Law+Schools+Are+Preparing+Students+to+Use+Gen+AI&utm_position=1&utm_source=email&utm_medium=enl&utm_campaign=morningupdate&utm_content=20250903&utm_term=ltn&oly_enc_id=6788E2252056B4A&slreturn=20250903085543
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